Paradigm shift in neuroscience sparks new FASD research in B.C.

Keith Rozendal, interning at the Vancouver Sun through a Mitacs Accelerate/Neurodevnet partnership, has chronicled the potential to harness neuroplasticity as a mechanism for repairing the damage done to a fetus when a pregant woman consumes alcohol.

"Despite 40 years of research," Rozendal writes, "medicine has little to offer in the way of treatments after FASD prevention fails. Doctors have long held that brain damage caused by alcohol cannot be corrected."

"However, scientists now recognize that, under the right conditions, new brain cells sprout and new connections can form at any point in a person's life."

'The brain shapes and reshapes itself in response to experience, every minute of every day,' said Cynthia Mateer, a University of Victoria neurologist specialized in cognitive rehabilitation.